ABOUT SNC

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

Sierra Nevada College graduates will be educated to be scholars of and contributors to a sustainable world. Sierra Nevada College combines the liberal arts and professional preparedness through an interdisciplinary curriculum that emphasizes entrepreneurial thinking and environmental, social, economic and educational sustainability.

GRADUATE STUDIES

SIERRA NEVADA COLLEGE ACADEMICS

At SNC, learning is not a spectator sport. We’re a college of active learners and educators. We engage, we collaborate, we debate, we question, we critique, and oh, do we grow. That’s what all this is about: the inspiration and growth of poised, life-ready, critical thinkers.

Rhiannon Alpers

Paper Leads to Thread | July 20th – 24th, 2015

This course is an integrated exploration of the fundamentals in papermaking and bookmaking, where paper leads to thread. We’ll cover a wide range of book structures using the paper made in the course as the class progresses. Students will learn the basics of creating their own handmade paper with the traditional fibers of Cotton and Abaca. From the pulp to finished sheets, students will explore the process for making paper with different molds and deckles in a variety of colors. Students will also get a chance to pigment fibers, set up vats, form sheets of paper, and put them in the drying box. Binding books with handmade paper will begin with the pamphlet stitch structure and lead to the accordion hard cover. Next up, will be the single-section hard cover and lastly the exposed spine binding. Students will gain an understanding of tools, vocabulary and creating books on their own in this one-week course. This course is geared towards beginning to intermediate students, with basic cutting, measuring and gluing skills.

BIO

Rhiannon Alpers is a papermaker, letterpress printer and book artist. She has an MFA in Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College Chicago and a BA in Book Arts from UC Santa Barbara, College of Creative Studies.

She has taught workshops and college courses at San Francisco Center for the Book, Sonoma Community Center, MarinMOCA, Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, Kala Printmaking Institute, Academy of Art University, University of San Francisco, Stanford University, Filoli Gardens Estate, Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz, Feather River Art Camp, Center for Book and Paper in Chicago, Columbia College Chicago, and Santa Reparata School of Art in Florence, Italy.

Rhiannon now works for her own company called Gazelle and Goat, a letterpress and bookbinding shop located in the Mission district of San Francisco. Please visit the website www.gazelleandgoat.com to learn more. She has worked as the Head of Studio Operations for the Bindery and Letterpress, and was the Production Coordinator for the Imprint Publications for San Francisco Center for the Book. She has apprenticed/interned at Turkey Press in Santa Barbara, Larksparrow Press in Evanston, and worked as a production bookbinder for the Paper Source Bindery in Chicago. http://rhiannonalpers.com/